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> Any lunatic could have bombed any theater in the country next week and Sony would have been liable.

Source? The bomber would be liable but why would Sony be? (Provided that they informed at least law enforcement and certainly if they made the details of the threats public).

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I meant that the probability of losing a civil suit, in the event that the threatened disaster occurred, was high enough to impose heavy cost on showing the film. Criminal liability would of course fall to the perpetrator.

In retrospect, I was wrong - it was the theater chains who would be exposing to themselves to that risk, so they (very logically) cancelled their showings. As a result Sony was forced to pull the film's theater release.

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